Saving Money

Last year I bucked the trend and spent my government stimulus check, albeit to pay off an existing debt. But that's one less monthly payment I have to make so it was well worth it.

This year, in addition to having to pay for glasses, contacts and a contact lens fitting, I have other medical bills to pay. I do have a healthcare savings plan, but underestimated the amount of money I would use; it's a use or lose benefit which I've never used when offered previously. I put what seemed like enough money to pay for glasses in the account and it isn't enough. Which is fine; this is just another way of using pre-tax dollars. I'm waiting for my debit card, which will have $250 free dollars from my employer on it in addition to my payroll deductions. The additional money would carry over, but there's no reason for me not to spend it on medical expenses since I have plenty of them.

While I'm saving for retirement through paycheck deductions, I need to increase my savings which is difficult. Right now I'm so focused on getting rid of the random bills that I've incurred recently that I'm not nearly as concerned as I should be about saving money. They say you should have the equivalent of 4-6 months expenses in savings. At the rate I'm going, that'll take me forever to achieve. Especially since I want to reduce my debt.

What I need to do is sit down and create a budget for myself and figure out if there's a way for me to achieve my goals of a) cleaning up my new, annoying medical debt; b) not carrying a balance on a credit card in order to do so; c) reducing my overall debt and d) increasing my savings.

My federal student loans are at a fixed rate and are unfortunately are the highest interest rate I have; however, the rate is much lower than the one I had for my undergrad loans. When I consolidated it seemed better to get a fixed rate loan because the rate I got was the lowest ever at that time. Now it isn't.

My other loans are really at a negligible rate of interest, differing by about .25 from one another; they both just recalibrated and got lower. I could decide that with such a low rate of interest I'd be better off not worrrying about paying extra on either of these loans and merely pay off my other debt as quickly of possible and put more in savings until the interest rates on these loans goes up again. That might be the most practical thing to do instead of worrying about getting the smaller one paid off sooner; the same payment at a lower interest rate will reduce principal by a slightly higher amount each month.

Cutting Back on Buying

The big question lately is whether Americans will change their consumption habits and continue to cut back. When I say "continue" I mean on a long-term basis. Will we stop buying everything immediately and going out to eat all the time for the future, or is this a temporary setback from which we'll revert once the economy improves? Right now, there's no way of knowing.

I don't think I'll continue with the consumerist behavior, simply because I had cut way back before the economy imploded. I have a bunch of books to read, needlepoint to work on and have to wait for my eyes to get straightened out first. I'm on an austerity program, probably until Easter so I can get some bills taken care of.

The convenience store gift card I referenced earlier will take care of filling my gas tank through President's Day so long as gas prices don't rise a lot in the next three weeks. That helps a lot as the only unfixed expenses I have are gas, food and my cellphone. The gas card means that I can devote another $100 to paying on one of my bills. That's huge!

Mid-Winter Safety Check

I know that not everyone lives in a Winter state and that Spring, in theory, should be coming soon. We'll know in a few days, when we find out what the Groundhog does.

Meanwhile, it's below zero again here and is going to be that way for a few days. I had a run-in with black ice last weekend; despite not driving fast on a city street, headed down a hill, I made approximately a 120 degree turn and ended up more-or-less perpendicular to the street on which I was driving. My tires are properly inflated and are new as of a few months ago. I didn't hit anything and nothing hit me; someone else drove into a snowbank, and I have no way of knowing whether it was from hitting ice or avoiding me.

Right now I have a full tank of gas and in order to avoid a frozen fuel line have always filled at a quarter tank. I work for someone who is completely reasonable and doesn't care if I'm late in the morning due to traffic, so long as I call once I figure it out and make it up by staying late that day or working longer another day during the pay period. That helps a lot because while I try to leave early enough to get to work on time, it doesn't always happen that way.

I make sure my fluids are topped off, get my oil changed regularly and carry extra wiper fluid and oil with me. I also have winter things in my trunk, such as jumper cables, a blanket, shovel and other random emergency items.

Be careful out there!

'Safe' Jobs

I don't know if there are any safe jobs. Government used to be viewed as safe but now has hiring freezes, wage freezes and layoffs, just like any other entity. Healthcare seems to be viewed as safe, but people are advocating medical tourism, so not so safe.

I've seen a few ads locally for attorneys that weren't posted by agencies; however, I had an invitation on LinkedIn to link with another recruiter I know. I don't think she has jobs to fill right now, since nobody seems to.

What's the safest job possible? Bartender, but not at a trendy spot? Barber? Grocery clerk?

College Educated Chinese Notice Lack of Employment

Considering that, like all of us, I have an advance degree, it's difficult for me to be sympathetic with the Chinese who are having trouble finding jobs. The job market in the US seems to have gone down directly when I have needed a job, every time.

When there is a global recession, when factories are closing down and countries are printing money right and left to bail out big business, it isn't a huge surprise if the job market is down. In China though, it seems education was the big saver, as it used to be in the US. No more.

Vision

I'm happy to have vision coverage with my health insurance, so was interested to read about how expensive it is to see; my co-pay is under $20 but in the past, when I haven't had coverage, I've paid a ton of money just to get my eyes checked. I'm very nearsighted and have always gone to an opthamologist; in the past I have had the start of a torn retina so I'd have made the switch by now anyway. An optometrist, once having noticed the tear, would've had to send me to the opthamologist for treatment.

Because my eyes are special, I paid a lot for the new lenses for which I'm currently waiting. I know I'll get what I need with the eyecare place at my opthamologist's office. I'm very nearsighted and have had trouble transitioning between close and distance so it was no surprise to learn that I need glasses that can compensate. My opthamologist recommends progressive lenses, which he says are the best, therefore, I have ordered them.

Meanwhile, I'm working with the contact lens tech, who hasn't yet come up with a prescription that works for me. She's sending new samples for me, but since I got eyestrain from the last set, I'm not optimistic. Her other idea, not realizing, or perhaps not caring, that my day is spent in front of a computer or book, is that I can throw on a pair of readers for the close work. If I need to wear readers all day, where is the advantage of contact lenses?

The other interesting part of the article was the reference to the same place in India to buy glasses. I'm still considering sunglasses for which I wouldn't get progressive lenses.

Out-of-business Sales

I like to shop the sales, but typically don't hit out-of-business sales. Usually by the time I become aware of them, the merchandise is picked over. It sounds like they're a crapshoot anyway. Then again, there are enough stores going out of business that there may be opportunities. Right now I don't have extra money for frivolous things, if I wanted them so won't be shopping; this week I paid for gas with a $100 gift card generated with points from my local convenience store.

I'm more likely to shop stores supplied by liquidators, including Big Lots and the PPL Shop. PPL is a local non-profit, with work programs, one of which is a retail store that buys closeouts and catalog returns as well as taking donations of used office furniture and other things. I've gotten some amazing things there over the years.

E-Filing

From a state that's a leader in e-filing, a reminder that it's quicker and easier to file online. I hope to ward off my personal insolvency with a refund. It goes quickly and easily. All information related to tax returns should be to you soon. I'm waiting for a couple of remaining statements and have targeted President's Day as a deadline on which to file my return. For those of you who haven't e-filed, I think I paid $8 for the state return. It was easy and fast. Last year I used my refund to pay on my smallest student loan. This year it goes toward a medical bill.

I'm putting a fair amount of money into deferred compensation one way or another; I have an automatic deduction for a retirement account, which I have augmented with what seems to be a hefty contribution to my deferred compensation account. It's like a 401K but the government ones have a different number.

The net result is that while my income for the coming year, at least most of it, will be more stable, it will also be less reflecting the pre-tax contributions both to retirement accounts and to other benefit accounts. I'm excited about that because not only am I saving for retirement but I'm reducing my immediate tax obligation.

Tax Refunds

Most of us live in states in which overpayments of taxes will be refunded upon filing our tax returns. Not if we live in California; the insolvent state is keeping overpayments!

I have an acquaintance who is a teacher in California and is no longer getting paid but instead receiving IOU's.

Conspicuous Consumption

Paris, while it might not be home to the most conspicuous consumers, is visited by them nonetheless, due to being the home to many luxury goods.

In this economy, not only are the super-wealthy being downgraded to merely wealthy, but many aspiring to great wealth have been derailed by the global financial downturn. As a result, blatant displays of luxury are frowned upon.

Another result, probably closer to home to most people, is that many who were formerly outsourcing errands in some way, be it by going to the nail salon, hiring a dogwalker or employing household staff, are scaling back.

RIP John Mortimer

John Mortimer died last week. He created Rumpole.

Inauguration Day

It's Inauguration Day and we have a new President. I'm a bit concerned with all the expectations people have; both within this country and outside of it, people think that Barack Obama will change everything, immediately. Especially if they tell him to. That isn't possible. Others apparently didn't think he'd be elected and were hoping for business as usual.

At the mall one day after the election, I overheard someone talking about how we would have socialized medicine under the new President. While healthcare in this country needs a change, I don't know that socialized medicine is the right answer, and, if so, in what form. Whatever happens, it won't happen quickly.

That was before the banking industry bailout and Obama's focus seems to be on the economy, and well it should. Infrastructure needs help; a freeway system built in the 1950's needs some overhauling. Hopefully we'll have change for the better.

Martin Luther King Day

Remember Martin Luther King today.

Free CLE's

An attorney sent me information on a free CLE at her alma mater. I have sent her information on CLE's in the past; part of her motivation was to ask me to share information with one of her friends, who clerks for a judge. She was astonished to learn that law clerks have to pay for their own CLE's.

In my state, government does not pay for CLE's for government employees, but at least two departments hold free CLE's that are publicized to employees but open to the public, if you find out about them. I have to get on those mailing lists as the CLE's take place a few blocks from where I'm working.

This same attorney suggested that I set up a subscription service and charge people an annual fee to send information to them. For my part, I think that's silly. The information I have is out there and I don't spend a lot of time working on it; up until being asked to send information to one attorney I don't know, everyone with whom I have shared information is someone I know. Not necessarily close friends, mostly people in the same situation as the rest of us, who are doing contract work with the hope that someday they'll get a job of their own.

Beefing up Your Resume in the Gigenomics Economy

Today I had e-mail from another contract attorney, with whom I have worked on a couple of projects. I haven't been in regular contact with her, so it was a bit of a surprise to see her name in my in-box. She updated me with her status, which, like so many of us, is looking for work and finding ways to update her resume.

Right now she has some freelance writing work, the topic is related to law, but she isn't writing briefs or anything like that. It's an income anyway. She's also looking for volunteer work as a way to beef up her resume. I'm not sure what she's going to do, but this attorney has been involved with dog rescue and is a member of the Animal Law Section of the Bar Association. One thing they do is put on an annual low-cost CLE. It's all day and is $100 or less for 6 credits. Not bad!

Volunteering is something we can all do, whether it's legal volunteering or something else. There are so many areas of the law in which volunteers are needed that there should be a program for everyone. In this economy there will be more people in need of free legal services. We should all go out and volunteer.

It's a great way of connecting with other people, at the very least some of whom will be new to you. Others will be working and may mention opportunities to you, be it opportunities for other volunteering, work or CLE's.

The Judge, RIP

My first year out of law school, I clerked for a judge in a small town. I applied for several clerkships as I was procrastinating for the Bar Exam and had several interviews. I ended up getting the job in a town 30 miles from my old college town; while it was in a rural area, it was near familiar territory so not too bad.

This week I learned that the judge, who had retired, had been on vacation out of the country and drowned. What a sad thing. He wasn't terribly old and was in good health, so I had fully expected him to live for a good, long time.

Temptations

One of my subscriptions is to Ramit at I Will Teach You to be Rich. Ramit has a lot of great ideas, some of which replicate my own ideas; in the last few years I have cut out most of the excesses in my spending and don't have a lot of remaining options. For example, he's a firm believer in bringing lunch instead of spending a ton of money. I already bring my lunch. Which is fine.

He does have a lot of other ideas though, including offshoring some of your spending. While I have mixed feelings about it, due to the economy and all the stores that are closing and filing bankruptcy, in some ways it makes sense. I'm very tempted by cheap glasses; I went to the opthamologist last week and I may get new lenses in my current frames, as well as ordering another pair from a company in India. Because I have a fairly strong prescription, my lenses are very expensive, at least if I don't want to have the proverbial Coke Bottles. That's why a cheap pair of glasses seems like a reasonable alternative, especially in a world in which people engage in medical tourism.

Two years ago I worked on a project with someone who had lived in the Middle East and had gotten a bunch of cheap dental work done there. She was planning to go back to visit and talked about getting her dental work done when she went. I don't know whether she did, but it makes more sense if you're going anyway than if it's a special trip.

American Exports

Despite a history of having a massive trade imbalance, the United States still exports plenty. But not physical items, more likely ideas. And not good ideas, either, just the bad ones. I don't think we're responsible for the greed of other nations, merely sharing bad business practices, especially in banking; however, the French rogue trader is another story altogether. I still don't think he acted alone; at the very least he had passive collusion from supervisors. Unless they have no checks and balances in their banking system. Which is frightening.

We have Enron, Worldcom and Arthur Andersen, the ethics of whom have been shared with the Satyam guys. They're in jail now after having admitted massive fraud. India must not have the same type of constitution as we have, so doesn't get bogged down in thinking about whether people should have jail time. Instead, announce your guilt, do not pass go and do not collect $200, go directly to jail.

This is one of the places that work outsourced from the US ends up. Which is frightening. Based on our previous experience with corporate chicanery, I doubt this is the only company that has inflated its earnings; it can't be because India doesn't have the same regulatory practices as the US which makes fraud much easier to perpetrate. Look for more of the same coming from India.

Downward Mobility

While I don't expect any changes in my finances soon, I see that a lot of people are downwardly mobile. Some people have always brought lunch to work, and will always do so unless they have specific plans to go out; others are trading down to cheaper lunch spots or bringing lunch a few days a week.

When I was younger, I hadn't caught on to the financial drain of buying lunch so would only rarely bring my lunch. Now I realize that I have better control of my finances when I spend a finite amount of money at the grocery store. Then again, I used to spend a lot of money on Diet Coke, but am not the only one to stop. I have teabags at work but also drink a lot of water.

People in a higher income bracket than mine are cutting back as well; I think of a high school friend whose father was a pilot. The great tragedy in her life, at a time when people with lesser incomes were scrambling to pay the mortgage and buy groceries, was that their boat (44ft yacht) had to be moved from one sunny island to a cheaper sunny island because they couldn't afford the marina fees. In my world, that's like Lovey and Thurston Howell III trading down to domestic Champagne.

Unimaginable to me.

Becoming Fiscally Conservative

I've alluded to previously owning massive amounts of unsecured consumer debt and basically charging a car; really, it's like charging it when you have payments. Except that the interest doesn't keep going up.

Lately I meet people who are very open with their financial traumas, and they're people we can learn from, if we already haven't learned those lessons. They're all over the economic spectrum. One woman is very open about her bad credit and must not really understand the mortgage industry. She has a home equity loan but says the bank should never have given it to her; clearly there's no understanding that she got the loan because it's secured by the house. It's unlikely the house has retained its value in the past couple of years, but she has a good, solid job so she should be able to continue to make payments.

Nevertheless, she gets in trouble with other bills, like cellphones. For some reason, she pays for three of them, one for an adult child, one for a minor child. Her payments are over $200/mo for the phones. She must have a lot more time and/or services than I do. Because of late payments, changes in her carriers policy and changes in her contract, she was forced to pay a bunch of money up front to get the accounts re-opened. They used to let her carry a late balance, as did her tv source, which is another item she pays late, which results in many added fees. One of the tricks for saving money is to keep better track of dates bills need to be paid and not incur a late fee.

Another thing a couple of people have gotten int trouble with is online gaming. I don't know what the gaming sources are, but it really doesn't matter. One person has a recurring Paypal payment; I haven't had any trouble with Paypal, but I've heard some horror stories, such as hundreds of dollars in bank charges because if you have it linked directly to your bank account, Paypal goes in every day to try to get payment, if you don't have funds the first time. In some cases, they make multiple tries a day. $35 a crack adds up pretty quickly.

In another situation, someone puts money into the gaming account at a pay-each-play webpage. She put in $10 or $20 at a time and only upon receipt of her bank statement did she realize that she had spent $400 on gaming in one month. Easy to do because all you do is click. She went back in to close out her account and because she hadn't been playing, the company had given her $50 in free credits, which she is playing and then will cash out. Hopefully she has the strength of will to close the account. She's pretty solid economically, but if she keeps up the $400 monthly allotment of games, that's going to change quickly. I download free games and have found enough games to keep me entertained for the amount of time I spend doing that sort of thing.

If it's financially questionable, have someone talk you off the ledge. The economy is too shaky to take a lot of chances.

Suze Orman's New Book-Free Download Temporarily

Suze Orman has been on seemingly every show on every channel lately; she has a new book which can be downloaded on Oprah's webpage. I haven't looked at it and while I don't know that I'd go out and buy one of her books, it's definitely worth downloading.

Finances are always tricky, especially for those of us with lots of debt, in industries in which it's currently difficult to break into. Several months ago, I accidentally invited everyone my computer knew to join me on Linkedin. Just the other day I had a response from a woman with whom I worked last year; when I was cut from the project, she and another attorney were kept on. They were just let go at the end of the year.

Locally, I'm aware of one project and have seen ads posted; you know the ones, they're from some company that it's one of the usual suspects and you wonder how they can possibly have a project in your small market. I did see another ad which defied reality; they want document review attorneys in a small town a couple of hours from here. Because the town has a food manufacturing plant and is selling a lot of a product with which we're all familiar, it's possible that instead of hiring a firm a couple hours away, where there's an unlimited supply of out-of-work attorneys, they're trying to do it in-house.

While I didn't read the ad, in order to get people from out of town, they'd have to be paying for housing and expenses and would expect a similar rate to doc reviews here; since it's a small town, their market rates are likely lower and they may try to pay less than the going rate. If people are desperate enough, they'll get it.

A large local firm has done work for another state and because of the size of population and fiscal situation in that state, they were forced to import attorneys and put them up in hotels; it was a poor state and the attorneys were two to a room at the hotel.

I'm paying more attention to how I spend money and have still been good about bringing lunch to work; I fell off the wagon on Monday and bought my lunch, but brought it the rest of the week. I talk myself out of things I want because I realize I don't need most of them.

I keep thinking about getting a different phone. And periodically getting obsessive about it. I have a backup phone for when this one dies, and it's three years old, so I have no idea how long it's going to last. One of my colleagues is offering me an old phone; her husband is the guy who gets a new phone, then takes her old phone when she gets a new one, so it sounds like they always have phones lying around the house. I may take her up on it so I get what I want and don't spend money.

Winter Food

During Winter, comfort food is important to me, whether it's macaroni and cheese (easy to make at from scratch) or something that takes more time and ingredients. I tend to make pots of jambalaya and pans of cannelloni and freeze some. Right after Christmas, I made a big pot of ham and barley soup from my mom's recipe. That hit the spot perfectly.

Cooking is a nice warm activity; when I was a kid, my mom would tell me to bake something if I complained of the cold. I did and it worked; in addition to the heat from the oven, the activity of assembling and mixing the ingredients helped me warm up. We always left the oven open a bit after turning it off so as not to waste the heat.

Winter cooking can sometimes feel boring as there are no fresh and exotic ingredients available on the tundra, but there are a lot of fresh ideas.

Post-Consumer Trauma

Now that consumerism has gone the way of the dodo bird, what next? I have already significantly reduced my consumer behavior, and was ahead of the curve, for which I'm thankful. While I occasionally experience a lapse in judgment, it rarely happens; okay a couple of cashmere sweaters before Christmas that went back, but really, that's it.

I wasn't around when President Kennedy told us we should ask not what our country could do for us; I was around when we were told to keep shopping or the terrorists would have won. At the time I was thinking of those foreign terrorists, not the domestic ones.

But what's next? I don't personally know anyone who has lost a job recently; just contract attorneys who are out of work and looking; however, the economy hasn't been great in all sectors for the last few years and I work with someone who went from PT to looking for a FT job with benefits because her husband's situation started to seem iffy. She has been on her current job for a year and her husband just had his hours cut. Kudos to them for seeing the future.

Hopefully jobs will return.

Commuting in the Snow

Since we're in a nice old-fashioned Winter, commuting has been a bit ugly. We have a lot of snow and have had bunches of it during rush hour, which makes commuting less enjoyable than normal.

Happily, after my first few days, I was able to trade in my original assignment in a surface-lot several blocks up a hill from where I work for a more expensive, more convenient option in the ramp behind the building in which I work. They assign parking by floor of ramp and I'm in the middle; I hope to move to the next lower floor soon, after which I'll be able to apply for the most convenient floor.

Why haven't I done so already? Well, this is government and the rules don't say you can't, but the parking office won't allow it. On the other hand, it's convenient and costs far less than taking the bus or parking downtown. I did have a subsidized bus card option but, as mentioned before, it was quite inconvenient to take the bus; in addition, the bus to this location doesn't run as much, so it's less convenient that way as well.

Benefits

I'm in a position now where I have a whole array of benefits available to me and am signing up for most, if not all options available to me. The employer pays for employee health care, so all I have to pay for is Dental and whatever other options I like.

I'm very happy to be in this position as I need to get my eyes checked and go to the dentist.

Memberships

I have been invited to Toastmasters and have to track down the person who invited me and get more information. I'm not excited about it, but realize it's a good plan as there is an expectation that I'll be giving presentations. I'm okay with the Power Point and making handouts, but not as confident with the actual presentation. I had a practice run and it's more like going in front of an appellate court, as they interrupt a lot, with things that don't seem relevant.

I'm also going to a government worker association related to the are in which I'm working. That's going to be a great resource as the attorney in the department who works with data requests is going to retire in a few months and I won't be left wafting in the wind.

In addition, I'm now a union member and am going to the monthly lunch meetings; after all, my dues pay for the lunch so I might as well.

I now have names of the people who run the lists for the CLE's within government. My building is about halfway between the two locations so it will be convenient to attend; not that I need to worry as I have a bunch of credits already and next week start the second half of my Statistics Class.

New Job

After working in contract situations, in which I primarily had a table, chair and computer, it's a bit strange to be in a place where I have an office. With a door that shuts and locks. My office is a bit utilitarian; I have a bunch of boxes sitting there that have been here longer than I have. I don't know how long they'll be cluttering up my office, but they're in different places than they had been, so they're less in the way.

I'm working on a presentation for the head honchos, with a gameplan for the project on which I'm working; a new data retention schedule for the area. It shouldn't be too bad, as there's a schedule in place, but it wasn't complete. They want to minimize and better organized the documents within the department. It's going to be interesting.

There are people with blizzards of paper in their cubes. Every flat surface is piled high, and in some cases there are documents on the floor. I don't think this is optimal, but apparently that's how they are. How people keep their cubes isn't my problem, but hopefully some of that will end up going.

Printing Money

I'm not so good as an economist, or my finances wouldn't be in the state in which they are; however, I've done pretty well at getting my consumer debt paid off. It's gone and will stay gone, until such time in the future as I need a different car or am able to qualify for a mortgage. Yet the Feds are printing money like there's no tomorrow, under the theory that if they don't, there will be no tomorrow. I hope it works!

It's increasingly scary out there; I recently learned that the two contractors with whom I worked last year in corporate America have ended their stint at the company; the department is no longer working with contractors. They're out on the street looking for work now and I don't know if there's much out there. For me, it means that being cut first, while it was unpleasant, was actually to my benefit; I was off nearly two months, worked on another project, and left just as it was winding down. I've heard from other contractors, and it seems that there's less work out there.

I'm quite happy to have landed somewhere for the relatively long-term, that comes with an array of benefits. I like my supervisor and department and hope that something permanent opens up for me.

New Year's Resolutions

I have a couple of New Year's Resolutions. The one that relates to this blog is to continue getting my finances in order. Due to a couple of things, including a big doctor bill that my crappy insurance didn't cover, I was unsuccessful at paying off my smallest student loan. Not the end of the world. Because of billing errors, I have not yet started paying on the doctor bill. I expect the corrected version soon.

I have, however, been a successful transactor with my credit card. On Friday, when I get paid, I will pay the balance currently there, which was for a Christmas present I ordered online. I also used my mom's store card to buy some things, and will make a payment there.

Another contributing factor was the Salvation Army family we adopted. We basically bought everything they wanted; the needs (bedding and clothing, down to socks and underwear) were greater than the wants (watch, basketball and dvd's). I spent more than I should've, but that's okay. My credit union has a holiday account into which I plan to divert money so I have cash in hand next year for presents.

For myself, I don't have much luxury to cut out; most of it went a few years ago. Lately I've splurged on new books at the bookstore, though I haven't been reading that much lately and still have a big stash of books left to read. In this economy, having a steady income seems like a luxury.

Leap Second

I hope none of you jumped the gun and started celebrating the New Year a second too soon! I had no idea they were adding a leap second and am glad that somebody's keeping the calendar on track.

The Economy, What am I doing to Wreck it?

According to the New York Times, I'm the problem with part of the economy. It seems that I'm sabotaging publishers and booksellers by a) buying used books, which detracts from the economic viability of 1) Publishers, 2) Bookstores and 3) Authors.

Every used book that I buy harms the bottom line of the publisher, as they have no sale; the bookstore as it also has no sale, and the author, who doesn't get a royalty from the book I buy on the secondary market.

Bookstores are having trouble because they have online competition and people no longer have to go to a physical location to buy a book...which is all well and good, but it only works if you know what book you want to buy.

Apparently buying used books from random sources, such as my typical source, a thrift store, is selfish and bad policy as the resulting loss of income is currently affecting publishers, who are closing divisions and buying fewer new properties; bookstores, which are closing in droves and authors, who will have no market for their new titles and will need to go out and get a job, which will be impossible now that the economy has imploded.

I guess I have no choice but to perform my patriotic duty and go buy books.